Thread: Conserving energy on a home in the LOS...

Originally Posted by hillbilly

What sort of designs or ideas can I come up with to save me money on monthly utilities? Basically, I am concerned with electricity and water.

Have been thinking about the same thing myself, came across this link today on one of the forums - http://www.troppoarchitects.com.au/ - some interesting designs in there, you may be able to extract some more info out of them.

Here in Alaska a small portion of the builders take enery conservation seriously. The vast majority build for the short run. Build as cheap as possible and sell the hog to someone else to feed. Among that small group are The Alaska Craftsmen Building Assn. They got most of the research from the University Extension Service in concert with some Swedish experts, and some east coast US group that was Energy Design Update.
I am not a member but I put in a heating system for them. They wrote a book on it. Basically the opposite of passive cooling since we want air tight bld with mechanical ventilation (air to air).
So now to undo all I know in order to remodel my wifes' house in BKK. I think we only have to replace the walls for now limiting design options.
Ok now guessing: One technique for cold climate is to have mass inside, stone, concrete etc insulated outside to stabalize the temp swings. This would cause the cool mass to absorb heat when the air con or passive ventilation is off. Am I on the right track here?

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

if you dig the lower floor below grade and build the house with broad overhangs you can remain cool(er) without air

That seems a good idea...any problem in the rainy season. I guess you'd have build on an above grade mound in the property to avoid problems during the rainy season.

^ Yes, that means buying truckloads of dirt and then waiting a year or so. However, please pay attention, one has to be on site to make certain these truckloads don't include elephant shit or wood crap.

And by the way, the Western truckload aint the same as a Thai cubic meter. Research DD's threads...

Here in CM, proper earth moving and compacting equipment is a common site. A lot of it sits idle much of the time. I've watched a few lots being prepared properly for building. Was amazed the first coupla times . My poperty's got a nice potential 'water Feature' smack dab in the middle of it, so i've watched those projects with interest.
Interesting watching the guys one lot over from my apt. They brought in all the equipment, dirt and workers. They worked the back half of the lot (abt 1 rai) for a good coupla weeks, left the front half sorta natural, damned up the stream behind us. Now they'v built what looks like a mountain camp there. The bathe in, and gather food from, the pond. Hmm, wonder where the sewage is goin'?? Anyway they're building right away. Ain't cheap but not so expensive to be impossible.

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

Originally Posted by spliff

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

if you dig the lower floor below grade and build the house with broad overhangs you can remain cool(er) without air

That seems a good idea...any problem in the rainy season. I guess you'd have build on an above grade mound in the property to avoid problems during the rainy season.

Yep most folks here first thing they do after buyng land is raise it about a foot, or so, above grade at least where the house is gonna be.

This is great in theory and these houses were built to that theory. Unfortunately someone built another estate nearby and their theory was to raise the land 3 feet high. Guess where the run off went.

Stilts. They worked well for centuries before "flood control".

So did avoiding flood plains

Quite so. But just as important is to look at the overall drainage plan. These houses are not in what would normally be considered a flood plain but the density of housing in the area means that whereas before the houses were built rain water would naturally drain into the ground, that becomes far more problematical when 75% of the surrounding ground area has been concreted over.

However, there are NO planning/building zones in Thailand. One can build a fancy home only to find out that they are next door to a 24-hour motorcycle repair shop. TIT!

aint it true bro. But it seems that for a detached house mooban you cannot change the original plans for a period of ten years, or until the owners take over the mooban from the developer. At least thats what it seems to me. William has a thread I will pose this one to him.